Fahrenheit 451

[mowens]

I was browsing through Audible, looking for something to listen to while driving, and this popped up. The stuff I have been listening to lately is really just mindless fluff and this piqued my interest so I got it. I am only half way through but I am astounded by this book.

It was written in 1953 but the issues the book talks about are so relevant today. This was before digital technology but the technology Bradbury describes has analogs in todays society.

It is most well known for its concept of firemen whose job it is to burn books. But that is only part of a larger theme. That is, attempts to control society by eliminating any deep thoughts or emotion. In the book, people are so occupied by the "thimble radios" they keep stuffed in their ears, to the video walls whose programming contains nothing thought provoking, that there is no time for deep personal relationships. The video programming includes virtual family members that the viewer interacts with, as well as something called "The White Clown".  When no program is showing the walls are filled with fireworks like light shows.  Burning any book that causes deep emotion or requires complex thought is just another part of it. Interestingly enough, it also includes anything that might possibly offend anyone.

Aside from the obvious issue of censorship, it also brings to mind all of the people today walking around wearing earbuds, including me. My coworker spends his free time scrolling through Tik toc videos. I spend hours sitting in front of the tv. The banality of popular music of any genre designed to please the lowest common denominator of society is one of my greatest pet peeves.

It has shades of Orwell, with history being rewritten. The goal is suppression of critical thought.

Anyway, with the shallowness in much of todays society so evident, at least to me, this book really strikes a chord.

Who knows? Maybe Newbee is right.

[YoDoug]

The short sighted naivety of modern liberals puzzles me. They are all for censoring content, rewriting history, etc. but you never hear them even consider how that could lead to their own enslavement or even worse, a holocaust. They act like  there is no way the methods of suppression of freedom in a book like Fahrenheit 451 or 1984 could be used in real life by the next real world Hitler.

[YoDoug]

I understand, in order to defend modern liberalism you either need to take an ignorant or a morally bankrupt stance. Probably easier just to troll with the Funny emoji.

[mowens]

I don't believe it's just liberals. A principal recently resigned because he showed a picture of the statue of David in art class and a parent complained that it was porn. (Frankly, if that's an accurate depiction of David, he wouldn't have had much of a career in porn.)

Look at all the recent controversies over banning books.

No, I don't believe any side can take the moral high ground.

[Smit]

Look at all the recent controversies over banning books.

No, I don't believe any side can take the moral high ground.

You'd have to be a completely partisan hypocrite to not see that.

Not thinking of anybody in particular of course. 

[beej]

Look at all the recent controversies over banning books.

No, I don't believe any side can take the moral high ground

not just books but authors as well. but I agree, I don't think either side has a moral leg to stand on. the one caveat, I would add though, is there is a difference between banning books and removing books from schools. I would say, that if you are trying to keep books from being published, or trying to get them out of public libraries. That is banning books. If you think that some books need a PG-13 rating, or in other words shouldn't be at a certain grade level in school, that is just common sense.

I also get, that the book burning thing is just a small piece of the overall picture that Fahrenheit 451 is describing and there are problems both left and right with the overall picture. I am more and more disgusted with all things political, and don't see a great way out of trouble we are in. But my Hope is in the Lord.

[JParis]

But my Hope is in the Lord.

Hope is the final refuge of the fool

[Smit]

But my Hope is in the Lord.

Unless he decides to start taking a more active role I don't think that's going to do us much good.

[beej]

Hope is the final refuge of the fool

"A man without hope is nothing but an insect, a mindless creature with no future. And a man without a future can only go backwards."

― Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, The Colonel 

[beej]

Unless he decides to start taking a more active role I don't think that's going to do us much good.

In the past, God has done some of his best work, when the world thought he was dead.

[neurosis]

[mowens]

Unless he decides to start taking a more active role I don't think that's going to do us much good.

He'll take as active a role as you let him, but he usually won't make your decisions for you.

[beej]

the 3 things I've never been able to shake with Donald Trump
1 his involvment with World Wrestling
2 his poor articulation seemed like an act. especially compared to interviews of him from the 80's and 90's
3 that ridiculous thing that Joaquin Phoenix did for a while makes me suspicious of almost everyone in showbiz and politics. I'm still not sure that we aren't in the middle of some reality TV thing.

[Incogneeto]

I was browsing through Audible, looking for something to listen to while driving, and this popped up. The stuff I have been listening to lately is really just mindless fluff and this piqued my interest so I got it. I am only half way through but I am astounded by this book.

It was written in 1953 but the issues the book talks about are so relevant today. This was before digital technology but the technology Bradbury describes has analogs in todays society.

It is most well known for its concept of firemen whose job it is to burn books. But that is only part of a larger theme. That is, attempts to control society by eliminating any deep thoughts or emotion. In the book, people are so occupied by the "thimble radios" they keep stuffed in their ears, to the video walls whose programming contains nothing thought provoking, that there is no time for deep personal relationships. The video programming includes virtual family members that the viewer interacts with, as well as something called "The White Clown".  When no program is showing the walls are filled with fireworks like light shows.  Burning any book that causes deep emotion or requires complex thought is just another part of it. Interestingly enough, it also includes anything that might possibly offend anyone.

Aside from the obvious issue of censorship, it also brings to mind all of the people today walking around wearing earbuds, including me. My coworker spends his free time scrolling through Tik toc videos. I spend hours sitting in front of the tv. The banality of popular music of any genre designed to please the lowest common denominator of society is one of my greatest pet peeves.

It has shades of Orwell, with history being rewritten. The goal is suppression of critical thought.

Anyway, with the shallowness in much of todays society so evident, at least to me, this book really strikes a chord.

Who knows? Maybe Newbee is right.

Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm , 1984

7th grade required reading. (I'm not being insulting)

Perfect time for a young mind to absorb it.

And The Classics.

Outside the comfort zone??

The Turner Diaries.

[Del.]

Fortunately I don't read books.